Demountable and adjustable side guard assembly for hospital bed



Feb. 15, 1966 c. B. HUTT DEMOUNTABLE AND ADJUSTABLE SIDE GUARD ASSEMBLYFOR HOSPITAL BED INVENTOR. j CLYDE B. HUTT Filed June 1, 1964 ATTORNEYUnited States Patent 3 234 570 DEMOUNTABLE ANDADIIUSTABLE SIDE GUARDASSEMBLY FOR HOSPITAL BED Clyde B. Hutt, 601E. 22nd, Vancouver, Wash.Filed June 1, 1964, Ser. No. 371,333 Claims. c1. 5-331 This inventionrelates in general to side guards or safety fences for hospital beds andthe like, and, more specifically, to such a side guard 'or safety fencecapable of being mounted on a hospital bed or similar type bed, and,when so mounted, capable of being adjusted to raised or loweredposition.

' An object of the invention is to provide an improved side guardassembly of the type indicated which can quickly and easily be mountedin place on the side of a bed, and also quickly and easily removedentirely from the bed when'no longer required.

Another object is to provide a side guard assembly which, when mountedon a bed, can be set placed in maximum raised position, or in a loweredintermediate position, or in an entirely collapsed and maximum loweredposition, as desired.

A common fault with some folding side guards used on hospital beds isthat a scissors action takes place in the main members of the assemblywhenever the side guard is lowered. With these there is the likelihoodthat the fingers of the patient or the fingers of the attendant may becaught and injured if special care is not exercised. A special object ofthe present invention accordingly is to provide an improved guard railassembly in which such danger is practically eliminated.

A further object is to provide an improved adjustable side guardassembly which can be firmly secured in fully raised position with aminimum of effort on the part of the attendant.

The manner in which these objects and other advantages are attained, andthe novel details of construction and arrangement of the assembly, willbe briefly explained and described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of the side guard assembly showing such assemblymounted in place on the bed,

the assembly being shown in fully raised position in full lines with theintermediate position shown in broken lines;

FIG. 2 is a corresponding foreshortened elevation showing the assemblyin fully lowered position on the bed, with portions of the assemblybroken away for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a section on line 33 of FIG. 1 drawn to a larger scale;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section on line 4-4 of FIG. 1 drawn to a largerscale; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional elevation showing the spring hingeconnection between one end of the top longitudinal bar of the assemblyand the supporting end member, drawn to a larger scale.

Referring first to FIG. 1, the head and foot boards of the bed B areindicated at and 11 respectively, and the main side rail of the bedframe is indicated at 12.

The assembly includes a U-shaped main bottom member 13 (see also FIG.3), the rear wall of which has a longitudinal inwardly-extending flange14 adapted to rest on the top face of the bed side rail 12 when theassembly is mounted on the bed. This bottom main member 13 of theassembly also is formed with a pair of downwardly-extending flanges 15,constituting downward continuations of the rear wall of the member 13and adapted to bear against the outer face of the bed side rail 12, asshown clearly in FIG. 3. Each of these flanges 15 terminates in aninwardly and upwardly turned bottom edge 16 so arranged as to engage thebottom edge of the bed side rail 12. A pair of screw clamps 17 extendthrough the main bottom member 13 above the flanges 15 respectively,each screwclamp having an element for engaging the inner edge of the topof .the bed side rail 12 as shown. These screw clamps are tightened orloosened, as the case may be, by manual turning of their outer handknobs 17'.

The upper main guard rail portion of the assembly includes threeparallel longitudinal rails 18, 19 and 20 of equal length, beingsomewhat .less in length than the bed frame, and preferably, althoughnot necessarily, tubular. Each of these rails is hingedly connected atits ends to a pair of end members 21 and 22respectively by hinge meansindicated at 40 in FIG. 1. The lower rail 20 of these threelongitudinalrails is connected with the main bottom member 13 by three.parallel and identical hinge links 23, 24 and 25. The entire assemblyis so positioned on the bed and bedside rail 12 that when the assemblyis in the fully raised position shown by the full lines in FIG. 1 theend member 21 will be against the head board 10 of thebed.

An adjusting and positioning bar 26 is slidably secured on a pair ofheaded pins 27 and 28 which are centrally mounted in the longitudinalrails 18 and 20 respectively. Thus this bar 26 will'always be parallelto the end members 21 and 22 of the assembly. The mounting pins 27 and28 extend through short longitudinal slots '27 and 28' respectively inthe bar 26. A coil spring 29 (see FIG. 4) is set in the slot 27 and heldunder compression, and therefore exerts a constant force resisting thesliding of the bar 26 upwardly on the pins 27 and 28. The reason forthis will be presently apparent.

A socket 30, secured on the outside face of the main bottom member 13,is so arranged and positioned as to engage and hold the bottom of theadjusting and positioning bar 26 when the assembly is in fully raisedposition as shown in FIG. 1. Thus as long as the bottom end of this bar26 is held in the socket 30 the assembly will be held in the fullyraised position. An operating handle 31 is mounted on the adjusting bar26.

When it is desired to lower the assembly, the adjusting bar 26 is raisedmanually against the force of spring 29 a suflicient distance to enablethe bottom of the bar 26 to be moved sidewise out of contact with thesocket 30. Since the end member 21 of the upper main guard rail portionis against the head board 10 of the bed this sidewise movement of theadjusting bar will necessarily be towards the right as viewed in FIG. 1,or towards the foot of the bed. However, sidewise movement of theadjusting bar will also-cause movement in the same direction of theupper main guard rail portion, and, as a result, the adjusting bar 26and the upper main guard rail portion will move downwardly as well as tothe right since such movement of the three parallel longi 'tudinal rails18, 19 and 20 in unison to the right will cause the hinged links 23, 24and 25 to rotate (in clockwise direction). This brings the assembly intothe intermediate position indicated by the broken lines in FIG. 1, and,if so desired, the assembly can be allowed to remain in thisintermediate position.

To bring the assembly into the fully lowered position, as shown in FIG.2, from the intermediate position just described, the adjusting bar 26is now given a partial rotation (counter-clockwise) causing the endmembers 21 and 22, which are always in parallelism with the bar 26, tomove similarly, and thus bringing the longitudinal rails 18, 19 and 20into fully lowered position in contact with eachother and with the lowerlongitudinal rail positioned along the top of the main bottom member 13.As apparent, the assembly in this fully lowered position will be in verycompact form.

To facilitate the raising of the assembly from the starting or lowestposition of FIG. 2 into the intermediate position shown in broken linesin FIG. 1, which, as apparent, is done by rotating the adjusting bar 26(clockwise) until it is brought into vertical position, the hinge bywhich the top longitudinal rail 18 is connected to the end member 21 ismade to include a spring element 32 (see FIG. which is always undertension, and thus the spring element exerts a force to increase theangularity between the end member 21 and the top rail 18, exerting itsgreatest force when the angularity is a small acute angle and reducingits spring force as the angularity approaches 90. A similar spring hingeelement (indicated only by broken lines in FIG. 1) is also included inthe hinge by which the longitudinal rail 20 is connected to the endmember 22. Generally one or two such spring hinge elements aresufiicient as far as the main longitudinal rails are concerned.

Further, in order to facilitate moving the assembly from theintermediate position shown in broken lines in FIG. 1 to the maximumraised position shown by the full lines, a similar spring element,indicated by the broken lines 33 of FIG. 1, is included in the hinge bywhich the link 24 is connected with the main bottom member 13.

Thus with the assistance of these light spring elements, the raising ofthe assembly to intermediate position and then to maximum raisedposition does not require very much effort on the part of the attendant.

When the assembly is to remain in maximum raised position it has beenfound desirable to secure the assembly at the top to the head boardofthe bed. For this purpose the end member 21 is provided with anextending car 34 which is formed with a slot 35 adapted to slide overthe shank of a clamping screw which screw carries a wing nut 36. Thetightening of the wing nut 36 holds this portion of the assembly securedto the head board. When the assembly is to be lowered a slight looseningof the clamping screw wing nut 36 enables the extending ear 34 to slideoff from the clamping screw shank.

Obviously other easily releasable means might be substituted forsecuring-the ear 34 to the head board of the bed and minor modificationswould also be possible in the assembly without departing from theprinciple of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a side guard assembly for a bed, an upper main guard portioncomprising a plurality of parallel longitudinal guard rails of the samelength and a pair of end members at the respective ends of said guardrails, hinge means connecting said end members and said guard rails andproviding a parallelogram construction, a spring element in at least oneof said hinge means exerting a force tending to prevent theangularitybetween the end member and guard rail at such hinge means beingdecreased, a main bottom member for the assembly, means for removablysecuring said main bottom member and therewith said assembly on the siderail of the bed frame, a plurality of identical parallel hinge linksconnecting said upper main guard portion with said main bottom memberenabling said upper main guard portion to be placed in raised or loweredposition with respect to said main bottom member, and means manuallyoperable for moving saidupper main guard portion into raised or loweredposition with respect to said main bottom member, said latter mentionedmeans also operable to move said upper main guard portion into collapsedposition when said upper main guard portion is in lowered position.

2. A side guard assembly for a bed, said assembly including a main guardportion comprising a plurality of horizontal longitudinal guard rails ofthe same length and a pair of end members at the respective ends of saidguard rails with hinge means connecting said end members and said guardrails and providing a parallelogram construction, a main bottom member,means for removably securing said bottom member and therewith saidassembly on the side rail of the bed frame, movable support means forsaid main guard portion on said main bottom member enabling said mainguard portion to be placed in raised or lowered position with respect tosaid main bottom member, an adjusting and positioning bar for said uppermain guard portion, a pair of pivot elements for said bar mounted on apair of the longitudinal guard rails in said upper main guard portionand so positioned as to maintain said bar in parallelism with said endmembers of said upper main guard portion, said bar provided with a pairof longitudinal slots through which said pivot elements respectivelyextend enabling said bar to be moved longitudinally to a limited extenton said pivot elements, holding means for the bottom end of said bar onsaid main bottom member so arranged that when the bottom end of said baris held in said holding means said bar will hold said upper main guardportion in raised position, whereupon the removal of the bottom end ofsaid bar from said holding means will enable said main guard portion tobe moved by said bar into lowered position and from thence into fullycollapsed position.

3. A side guard assembly for a bed, said assembly including an uppermain guard portion comprising a plurality of horizontal longitudinalguard rails of the same length and a pair of end members at therespective ends of said guard rails with hinge means connecting said endmembers and said guard rails and providing a parallelogram construction,a main bottom member for the assembly, means for removably securing saidmain bottom member and therewith said assembly on the side rail of thebed frame, a plurality of identical parallel hinge links connecting saidupper main guard portion with said main bottom member and enabling saidupper main guard portion to be placed in raised or lowered position withrespect to said main bottom member, an adjusting and positioning bar forsaid upper main guard portion, a pair of pivot elements for said barmounted on a pair of the longitudinal guard rails in said upper mainguard portion and so positioned as to maintain said bar in parallelismwith said end members of said upper main guard portion, said barprovided with a pair of longitudinal slots through which said pivotelements respectively extend enabling said bar to be movedlongitudinally to a limited extent on said pivot elements, a socket forthe bottom end of said bar on said main bottom member so arranged thatwhen the bottom end of said bar is held in said socket said bar willmaintain said upper main guard portion in raised position, whereupon thelifting of the bottom end of said bar from said socket will enable saidupper main guard portion to be moved by said bar into lowered positionand from thence into fully collapsed position, and spring means on saidbar exerting a force tending normally to retain said bottom end of saidbar in said socket when said bar is in place in said socket.

4. A side guard assembly for a bed, said assembly comprising an uppermain guard portion consisting of a plurality of horizontal longitudinalguard rails of the same length and a pair of end members at therespective ends of said guard rails with hinge means connecting said endmembers and said guard rails and providing a parallelogram construction,a spring element in at least one tom member, a spring element in thehinge of one of said links exerting a force tending to raise said uppermain guard portion into raised position with respect to said main bottommember, and means manually operable for moving said upper main guardportion into raised or lowered position with respect to said main bottommember, said latter mentioned means also operable to move said uppermain guard portion into collapsed position when said upper main guardportion is in lowered position.

5. A side guard assembly for a bed, said assembly comprising an uppermain guard portion consisting of a plurality of horizontal longitudinalguard rails of the same length and a pair of end members at therespective ends of said guard rails with hinge means connecting said endmembers and said guard rails and providing a parallelogram construction,a spring element in at least one of said hinge means exerting a forcetending to prevent the angularity between the end member and guard railat such hinge means being decreased, a main bottom member, clampingmeans for removably securing said main bottom member and therewith saidassembly on the side rail of the bed frame, a plurality of identicalparallel hinge links connecting the lower longitudinal guard rail insaid upper main guard portion with said main bottom member and enablingsaid upper main guard portion to be placed in raised or lowered positionwith respect to said main bottom member, an adjusting and positioningbar for said upper main guard portion, a pair of pivot elements for saidbar mounted on a pair of the longitudinal guard rails in said upper mainguard portion and so positioned as to maintain said bar in parallelismwith said end members of said main guard portion, said bar provided witha pair of longitudinal slots through which said pivot elementsrespectively extend enabling said bar to be moved longitudinally to alimited extent on said pivot elements, a socket for the bottom end ofsaid bar on said main bottom member so arranged that when the bottom endof said bar is held in said socket said bar will maintain said uppermain guard portion in raised position, whereupon the lifting of thebottom end of said bar from said socket will enable said upper mainguard portion to be moved by said bar into lowered position and fromthence into fully collapsed position, spring means on said bar exertinga force tending normally to retain said bottom end of said bar in saidsocket when said bar is in place in said socket, and means for lockingsaid main guard portion to the head post of the bed when said main guardportion is in fully raised position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 416,102 11/1889Hannahs 5-331 2,587,291 2/1952 Des Rochers 533 1 2,799,869 7/1957 Leoneet al. 5331 3,055,020 9/1962 Mann 5331 3,093,839 6/1963 Higgins 5-331FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

R. D. KRAUS, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A SIDE GUARD ASSEMBLY FOR A BED, AN UPPER MAIN GUARD PORTIONCOMPRISING A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL LONGITUDINAL GUARDS RAILS OF THE SAMELENGTH AND A PAIR OF END MEMBERS AT THE RESPECTIVE ENDS OF SAID GUARDRAILS, HINGE MEANS CONNECTING SAID ENDS MEMBERS AND SAID GUARD RAILS ANDPROVIDING A PARALLELOGRAM CONSTRUCTION, A SPRING ELEMENT IN AT LEAST ONEOF SAID HINGE MEANS EXERTING A FORCE TENDING TO PREVENT THE ANGULARITYBETWEEN THE END MEMBER AND GUARD RAIL AT SUCH HINGE MEANS BEINGDECREASED, A MAIN BOTTOM MEMBER FOR THE ASSEMBLY, MEANS FOR REMOVABLYSECURING SAID MAIN BOTTOM MEMBER AND THEREWITH SAID ASSEMBLY ON THE SIDEOF THE BED FRAME, A PLURALITY OF IDENTICAL PARALLEL HINGE LINKSCONNECTING SAID